Telecom Solutions - The "Greening" of Telamon

The revolution started slowly and quietly. It’s difficult to nail down the exact cause or time but several things contributed.  All of a sudden, the energy required for equipment and the energy expended from equipment became a big issue.  Perhaps it was in the increase in electric utility rates or the sudden – and expensive - need to beef up the building cooling systems.  Perhaps both coming at nearly the same time.

Back in the day - a phrase I love as it conjures up images of horse drawn carriages and lack of indoor plumbing – telephone equipment offices, large and small, sometimes had hot and cold areas.  There were spaces designed that would keep equipment at appropriate temperatures as some were far more sensitive than others. Digital switching electronics and battery plants come to mind immediately.  It didn’t take long to notice that there were some equipment types and manufacturers that generated a lot of heat.  Heat is a byproduct of inefficient use of power consumption and too much contributes to expense in ways that telecom providers had not previously considered.  Several immediate steps were taken.   

First, technology that was no longer in use was turned down and, where practical, removed.  It seems intuitive but there were oftentimes aisles upon aisles of equipment that had been bypassed but electricity was still flowing to.  This was a huge waste. Second, network planners and facilities managers started to work together to assess the impact of new technologies on the existing infrastructure.  A new technology could potentially require a full, and very expensive,  upgrade to the HVAC system. Thirdly, executives approached equipment manufacturers with the request to design equipment with energy efficiency in mind.  It has been widely documented that the equipment deployed in the telecom industry alone accounts for at least one percent of the power used globally.  This may not sound like a lot but it equates to billions of kilowatt hours annually. With emerging new services and technologies this consumption is not expected to go down but up – along with the price of energy. To encourage this radical change in mindset, RFP’s were written to include efficiency standards.  If you wanted to participate, manufacturers had to potentially redesign products to meet these standards.  And they did.

At the same time, utility energy rates continued to climb. Once the standard facility conservation practices were put into place – lower thermostats, controlled lighting, etc. – telecom providers had to start getting creative in lowering operating expense related to energy consumption.    It has been very encouraging to see the telecom industry as a whole embrace alternative energy as a sustainable and financially viable business model.  The large scale use of solar and wind for datacenter rooftops, fuel cells at small and remote locations and research into deployment of biofuels and geothermal for large corporate campuses is proving itself economically and will hopefully persuade other industries to continue to follow suit.

- Suzanne Beck

VP Sales

Telecom Solutions